Don't Forget Your Registration Mark!

My office is essentially the guardian of the brand and protector of the registration mark for a big multinational organization. We all do our part to make sure that no one uses or misuses our name without consent. The field folks are charged with the operational standards that reflect the brand; the fundraisers and accountants make sure that our brand is financially sustainable; the lawyers stringently monitor legalese associated with our brand; and my team steers the way that our brand is marketed and communicated.

One of my department's responsibility is to give direction to our Chapters, partnering companies, third party fundraisers, and generous individual donors during and after creative reviews. We review press releases, digital media, TV spots, in-store promotions, and various other pieces of creative collateral. Basically, before we let anything go out the door with our name and logo on it, we get to sign off on the party using it, make sure that it fits perfectly with our styling, then slap a registration mark on it to tell the world, "That's ours!"  If the piece doesn't fit, we offer guidance on improvement or just counter with a big 'NO WAY. NO HOW!

To a certain degree this review and approval process is like prom dress shopping with your best friend who you love to death and consider your partner in crime, but you abhor her sense of style. A couple weeks before the big dance, you go to your favorite boutique that carries only the cute dresses. You decide on your look for the evening and then turn to help your buddy who seems more clueless than ever. You offer some direction:

Dress 1: "That one makes you look fat."  

Dress 2: "Orange? Seriously? Not your color."

Dress 3: "Um, NO! Where did you even find that one in this store?!"

Dress 4: "NO! That's the dress that I'm wearing. That's my look for the night."

Dress 5: "Ahhh ... this is the one. Clean, flattering, with an edge that differentiates you and will make us look like the most dynamic duo at the dance."

(As a side note, I went to an all girls school where you basically took yourself and your expensive dress to prom. Your date was a last minute find who was generally an awkward friend of a friend of someone's cousin. Basically, you went to prom so you and your girlfriends had some really great pictures of yourselves.)

The problem though is that unlike the creative review process at work, we can't license and protect the look that we want to own. So after the due diligence of finding the perfect dress and making sure your best friend doesn't wear the same thing, inevitably, you will arrive at prom to find your social rival in the same dress, which if you are me, will make your blood boil. The only consolation is that you look just a little bit better because you were allowed to get the expensive shoes to match. This scenario, to this day, gets me fired up.

I keep thinking of how amazing it would be if I could put a registration mark on my look so no one else could steal it. Then work to expand that claim, as most companies do, to include any part of my image, likeness, personality, etc. To me, that would be awesome.

Never gonna happen though. My look, personality, interests, quirks, and idiosyncrasies to a large extent make up who I am. When people describe me, I'm generally a formula of what I look like:

“Oh you know she’s 5’6, dark hair, blue eyes, dresses very well... (I like to think)”

Or I'm a formula of my personality and habits:

“You know she’s very dramatic, dances like a spaz, is overly enthusiastic, is a washed up lacrosse player, is insanely competitive, writes this ridiculous blog...”

It drives me crazy when the formula that is me can be easily transferable to someone else. (And to make matters worse even my name doesn’t seem to be very special anymore. There are seriously 198 different girls with my exact name on Facebook.) 

Basically, I think there's only one way to trademark what I do or look like - and that is to find a niche so extreme that only I can claim it as my own. The boyfriend is one who has been able to do this. He is regularly characterized as a fisherman. However, he often refutes this claim and doesn’t associate himself with most fishing enthusiasts who plop some bait in the water and wait around for a fish to bite. Instead, his hobby is combat fishing for massive striper, in the rapids and off kilter currents of Woods Hole, Cape Cod, in his 15 foot skiff made for him by a local carpenter, with craft brews in tow, and with buddies that know the tides as well as he. Yeah, he owns that activity, and unfortunately, I have not been able to find such a niche.

My look is nothing original. My hobbies, though many, seem to find an intersection point with just about everybody I meet, and my personality isn't cool enough to transcend the masses. I want to be different - I want be able to say hey, that's mine, you can't use it. But, after much thought while biking, running and curing hangovers this weekend I've come to the conclusion that it's not one's sense of style, physical appearance, personality traits, hobbies or quirks that make us who we are. It's something else.

That something else, is something marketers know well. The essence of a brand and the reason people stay loyal to that brand can't be trademarked. It's not the signature burger, special sauce, award winning fries, or newest mixed beverage. Rather, the power behind the brand lies in the unique ways it has touched consumers over the years: the memories, aromas, tastes, sensations, and feelings. These deeper associations go beyond the licensed products and services and have a lasting affect on consumers and can make them buyers for life. When I eat my ice cream cone everyday, I think of all those times that this simple pleasure has made me smile - as a vacation treat, as an after practice cool-down, as a late night/post-shift saving grace. It's not just what it looks and tastes like, it's memories of how it's been there for me throughout the years. (Wow - that is sick - don't judge!) 

I believe the same holds true for each one of us. Although we so often identify ourselves by the sum of our parts, it's what people see inside you that gives us our trademarks. It’s the memories people have with you. It’s the way you make other people feel. Only you can have a certain affect on another individual. Your unique relationships and the people that are your brand loyalists make you who you are.

"Oh you know ... that's my girl!"

It's a descriptor like this from your mother that makes you, you. 

I like that and it also takes the pressure off of myself to find something that only I can own. So go forth, be a good person, and make your trademark about how you make other people feel. 

Lo